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Aspasia's speech on how Athens is ruled

c. 386 BCE, Athens. As Plato tells it, through Socrates; many read the Menexenus as satire.

Where and when

c. 386 BCEAthens

about 2,411 years ago

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Aspasia

, AthensAs Plato tells it, through Socrates; many read the Menexenus as satire

In plain words, ours

The people run most things and give power to whoever seems best. Being poor, weak or of unknown family neither bars you nor lifts you.

And while the most part of civic affairs are in the control of the populace, they hand over the posts of government and the power to those who from time to time are deemed to be the best men; and no man is debarred by his weakness or poverty or by the obscurity of his parentage, or promoted because of the opposite qualities, as is the case in other States. On the contrary, the one principle of selection is this: the man that is deemed to be wise or good rules and governs.

Plato, Menexenus 238dTranslated by R. G. Bury (1929)Read the full passage (Plato, Menexenus 238d, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In Plato's Menexenus, which many read as satire, Socrates recites a speech for Athens' fallen soldiers that he credits to Aspasia. At this point the speech praises the city's form of government, which it says some call democracy but is really rule by the best with the people's approval.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. set in 406 BCEabout 20 years earlier Xenophon on the Arginusae generals Also about democracy and government
  2. 403 BCEabout 17 years earlier Democracy returns to Athens, with an amnesty Also about democracy and government
  3. c. 387 BCE1 year earlier Plato starts teaching at the Academy Also in Athens
  4. c. 386 BCEThis momentAspasia's speech on how Athens is ruled
  5. c. 386 BCEAbout the same year Aspasia's speech on how a state shapes men Same passageMore from Aspasia
  6. c. 386 BCEAbout the same year Aspasia's speech on grieving too much More from Aspasia
  7. c. 386 BCEAbout the same year Aspasia's speech on wealth and cowardice More from Aspasia
  8. c. 386 BCEAbout the same year Socrates on Aspasia's funeral speech Same passageAlso in Athens
  9. c. 399–354 BCEDuring it Xenophon on Socrates' death Also in Athens

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

For a polity is a thing which nurtures men, good men when it is noble, bad men when it is base. It is necessary, then, to demonstrate that the polity wherein our forefathers were nurtured was a noble one, such as caused goodness not only in them but also in their descendants of the present age, amongst whom we number these men who are fallen. For it is the same polity which existed then and exists now, under which polity we are living now and have been living ever since that age with hardly a break. One man calls it democracy, another man, according to his fancy, gives it some other name; but it is, in very truth, an aristocracy backed by popular approbation. Kings we always have ; but these are at one time hereditary, at another selected by vote.

The quote: And while the most part of civic affairs are in the control of the populace, they hand over the posts of government and the power to those who from time to time are deemed to be the best men; and no man is debarred by his weakness or poverty or by the obscurity of his parentage, or promoted because of the opposite qualities, as is the case in other States. On the contrary, the one principle of selection is this: the man that is deemed to be wise or good rules and governs.

And the cause of this our polity lies in our equality of birth. Soc.

Plato, Menexenus 238c–239Translated by R. G. Bury (1929)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 386 BCE. The Menexenus speech covers events down to the King's Peace (387/386 BCE), years after Socrates died in 399, so the scene is anachronistic; Plato wrote it c. 386–380 BCE.
Whose words
As Plato tells it, through Socrates; many read the Menexenus as satire. Who was Aspasia?
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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